Kevin Hart's Gran Coramino Tequila Brand Awards $500K To Black And Latinx Small Businesses

As reported by VegNews, the tequila brand Hart co-founded with 11th generational tequila maker Juan Domingo Beckman has partnered with a national nonprofit to provide grants to small, Black-owned, and Latinx-owned businesses. The gift will offer capital that is imperative for these businesses as they work to scale and grow.

“[Beckmann] and I always knew we wanted Gran Coramino to have a give-back component focused on providing Black and Latinx entrepreneurs with resources to pursue their small business dreams,” Hart said in a statement, recalling his overall vision for the tequila brand. “Teaming up with LISC last year to launch the Coramino Fund in the U.S. was the start of that journey.”

This year, through the partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), 50 winning businesses walked away with grants of $10,000 each, for a total of $500,000. They were evenly distributed with 50% of the recipients being Black-owned, 36% that were Latinx-owned, and 14% that were a combination of both. Additionally, women-owned businesses made up the majority of the awardees at 68%. 

 

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Applications for the grants opened up last fall, and entrepreneurs from all 50 states applied representing industries that include retail, transportation, educational services, and more.

Among those recipients were two vegan food businesses.

For Black Leaf Vegan co-owner Derrick Slack, the story behind the family-owned café is what he believes made them stand out from the rest.

“We’re in a space where we can really encourage a lot of people to change their DNA, literally change the trajectory of their family’s health, consciousness, and in the process, expand our brand,” he told the outlet.

After adopting a vegan diet when they learned of food-related chronic illnesses in the community, husband and wife Derrick and Taria Slack wanted to share healthier habits with other people through their business. 

“We started to look at our food choices, and [asked], ‘How can we be more healthy? How can we raise our children to be more healthy,” Derrick said. 

In addition to the grant program, Gran Coramino also donates $1 from every bottle of tequila sold to small businesses based in the U.S. and in Mexico.